10 Afghans killed in attack by Taliban as insurgency operations continue

Multiple Taliban attacks have killed at least seven policemen and three civilians across Afghanistan Saturday, as insurgents continue with near daily assaults on government and civilian targets. Taliban killed at least four policemen when they stormed a security check point in northern Sari Pul province, a provincial official said.

Mohammad Noor Rahmani, head of the provincial council, said five others were wounded in Saturday's attack on the outskirts of the province's capital city. In a separate report form eastern Ghazni province, Taliban launched attacks on security checkpoints on Saturday, killing three personnel and wounding seven others.

A spokesman for the provincial police chief, Ahmad Khan Serat, said police killed seven insurgents during the gun battle. Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Ghazni, but made no statement on Sari Pul.

Meanwhile twin bomb blasts killed at least three civilians in eastern Nangarhar province, according to local officials. Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor, said 19 others were wounded in Saturday's blasts the provincial capital of Jalalabad.

According to hospital reports, two of the injured are in critical condition. Khogyani added that all the victims were civilians.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Nangarhar, but both Taliban insurgents and Islamic State affiliates are active in eastern Afghanistan, especially in Nangarhar. In western Badghis province, Taliban kept up a three-day assault on a government and army compound in Bala Murghab district, according to a provincial council member who is not authorised to speak with the media.

The brazen Taliban attack began before dawn on Thursday, when the insurgents stormed all the security posts around the government compound and killed at least 20 soldiers and policemen. Fighting continued throughout the day and into Friday, the provincial council member said.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to the media. Roughly 2,000 Taliban fighters are involved in the attack, with about 600 Afghan troops and members of the security forces in the district.

With security forces drawn to the battle in Bala Murgahb, Taliban claimed they had briefly overrun the headquarters of the Ab Kamari district in the same province late Friday, but Jamshid Shahabi, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said Taliban captured only a couple of checkpoints, not the district headquarters. 

(With inputs from agencies.)